Khurda: Police have cracked the case in which the body of a man was found in a suitcase inside a forest under the Nachuni police limits in this district, Sunday. Police officials informed Monday that three persons, including the wife of the deceased, have been arrested for their alleged involvement in the murder of Manoranjan Mohapatra (32), a resident of Lakhapada village under Ranpur police limits.
It has taken police only 12 hours to crack the mystery behind the death of Manoranjan. Police said that it is a case of pre-meditated murder.
Locals, who had entered into the forest for collecting firewood, spotted a blue suitcase Sunday. They informed the local police station immediately. Personnel from the Nachuni police station reached the spot and broke the lock of the suitcase only to find the dead body of a man.
Initial probe suggested that the youth was strangled to death. Thereafter police detained the deceased’s wife Mili and two others and grilled them during which they confessed to the crime.
“It was a pre-meditated murder by the deceased’s wife, one of her cousins and an associate. The three had bought the large suitcase so that they could dispose of the body easily. The three then strangulated Manoranjan to death, stuffed it inside the suitcase and dumped it inside the forest,” Khurda SP Siddharth Kataria told reporters Monday.
Kataria added that woman used to be regularly tortured by Manoranjan. It may have prompted her to take the drastic step. Sources said that the deceased’s wife has confessed that because of physical torture, she decided to eliminate him and took the help of her cousin.